BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Bought by Headlands Technologies LLC

Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 83.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,965 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $343,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 400.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,294,000 after buying an additional 2,857,340 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of BCE by 20.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after buying an additional 1,893,418 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of BCE by 83.6% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,418,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,768,000 after buying an additional 1,101,200 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of BCE by 57.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,318,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,908,000 after buying an additional 843,626 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 39.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,968,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,318,000 after buying an additional 835,871 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $32.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.56. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.82 and a 1 year high of $48.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $34.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.65.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. On average, research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.742 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.10%. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 174.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BCE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Argus cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Profile

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.